Traian Basescu has continued his attacks against Prosecutors. After speaking out against General Prosecutor Tiberiu Nitu on Monday, the ex-President moved on the Head of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA), Laura Codruța Kovesi, on Tuesday.
Ex-President Traian Basescu posted on his Facebook page a recording from Cotroceni, dated September 9, 2009, showing him having an argument with DNA Prosecutor-in-Chief Laura Codruta Kovesi, the General Prosecutor of Romania at that time, on the topic of Miners’ Riots and Revolution. It happened in 2009, when the President was requesting investigating institutions to identity the responsible parties for the casualties of 1990.
“See from 31:20 to 32:40”, the former Head of the State recommended.
The video posted on the ex-President’s Facebook page starts with a scene from an interview granted by Ion Iliescu to the public TV station in 2005, as Iliescu was declaring that revolutionaries “shot one another”.
It continues with an excerpt of a discussion at Cotroceni, between the former President and Laura Codruta Kovesi. Basescu is demanding Kovesi explanations regarding the Miners’ Riots and the Revolution files.
Traian Basescu demands Laura Codruta Kovesi “an ounce of hope” that the files would be solved one day. She replies that she will work with expedience on these files.
“But I cannot promise you a solution and I cannot correct what was not done in 18 years. We will have a solution as fast as possible” she replies. „
“Do not mistake me for some journalist you are making a statement to! You are talking to the Head of the State, who is telling you this: 1,600 people died at the Revolution and you are closing the file. (…) Many people died during the Miners’ Riots in June 13 – 15. What are you trying to tell me? Are you suggesting that I am imposing a solution? The reality imposes you to say whether those people shot themselves or whether somebody shot them”, Traian Basescu answered with visible rage.
PSD’s Stefanescu: Basescu issued a warning to Kovesi by this post
PSD Deputy Secretary General Codrin Stefanescu commented on Traian Basescu’s gesture, after the former President posted a video on his Facebook page attacking Laura Codruta Kovesi.
“Does this film have any connection to the Revolution, the Miners’ Riots or is it simply a response at the level of public image, assumed by Mr. Basescu regarding Ms. Kovesi?” The Social-Democrat was asked on Tuesday evening at Romania TV.
“It is a message to Ms. Kovesi. It is meant to say: ‘Do not forget, my dear, how sharp I was and still am, as long as I walk on the Earth. I’m your God descending from the skies. Do not forget who created all of you.” This is the actual message.
Because Traian Basescu never cared and will never care about the truth in the Revolution.
“This film he had posted has no connection to the Miners’ Riots or to the Revolution. It merely signals to Ms. Kovesi, directly, that Basescu is still a tough guy”, Codrin Stefanescu declared.
Basescu: It wasn’t an attack against Kovesi, I wanted to defend my term
The former president’s gesture of posting the video was interpreted as an attack against Kovesi, however Basescu denied such an intention. He later explained that he did not want the posting to be interpreted as an attack against Kovesi.
Journalist Catalin Striblea wrote on his blog that Traian Basescu called him in order to explain the gesture.
“It wasn’t an attack against Kovesi. I wanted to defend my term. I was blamed for the failure to solve this case. And I made repeated requests for it to be solved. That is what I asked Kovesi back then. In fact, I will also publish what I asked Tiberiu Nitu at his appointment in office, I asked him to solve this case. So it has nothing to do with Kovesi,” Traian Basescu told the journalist on Wednesday.
Striblea also pointed out that Basescu told him the case’s gridlock “is something that has to do strictly with prosecutors, with their professional and human background.”
